PROVO -- For the first time since 2003, No. 2 BYU (3-0, 1-0 MPSF) took No. 3 UCLA (2-2, 0-1 MPSF) down in three straight games, as the Cougars remained undefeated 30-28, 30-22 and 30-26.

Sophomore Yosleyder Cala led BYU with game-highs of 15 kills and an astounding .789 hitting percentage. Juniors Ivan Perez (11 kills) and Russell Holmes (12 kills) combined for 23 of BYU's 51 total kills. Freshman Robby Stowell received game-high honors in digs with eight on the night. As a team, BYU recorded 27 digs to UCLA's 13. The Cougars hit .500 for the match while holding the Bruins to 41 kills on .330 hitting.

"Our goal is to hit .350 as a team," said BYU men's volleyball head coach Shawn Patchell. "We hit .500, which is a direct correlation to our passing."

Game one was as close as it could get with 16 ties, six lead changes and neither team leading by more than two points until BYU took a 29-26 lead late in the game. Ivan Perez got the crowd roaring early on with a couple spectacular plays. Trailing 2-4, Perez crushed the ball from the left side for a kill that drew raucous cheers from the more than 5,000 in attendance. Perez made his presence felt again on the next play with a block that knotted the score at 4 apiece.

Later, with the scored tied 13-13, Cala gave BYU its first lead of the night by putting down a monster kill that ricocheted off a UCLA defender and out of bounds. The two teams took turns taking and losing the lead until the Cougars found themselves on the low end of a 22-24 score. Coming out of a timeout, BYU closed out the game on an 8-4 run to win 30-28. On one crucial play, with the teams tied at 25-25, Stowell took a Bruin spike off his face. The ball bounced off Stowell and landed back in UCLA's court for the Cougar score.

It was Cala and Perez again nearly bringing the house down in game two with their amazing athleticism and power on display. The two combined for 13 kills in the second game, which proved to be a little easier for BYU than the first. The Cougars turned an early 3-4 deficit into a 5-4 lead and never trailed again on its way to a 30-22 victory. As a team, BYU hit .642 in game two while holding the Bruins to a .222 clip.

The Cougars jumped out to a 3-0 lead and didn't trail throughout the entire third and final game. However, the intensity of game one returned as the two opponents found themselves squared away at 24-24. Freshman Rodnei Santos rose to the occasion, striking a mighty kill down the middle to break the tie. The score set BYU off on a match-ending 6-2 run and set the tone for the weekend series.

"It was exciting for our great crowd," Patchell said. "Our goal is to not split with UCLA. We want to be perfect at home."

BYU wraps up its two-game series with UCLA at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse on Saturday, Jan., 13.

Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
     #3 UCLA Bruins vs #2 Brigham Young Univ. (Jan 12, 2007 at Provo, Utah)
    UCLA Bruins            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 10 Brett Perrine.......  3|  3   2  12  .083|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0
 12 Dylan Bowermaster...  3|  3   2   7  .143|  2|  0   4|  0|  0| 1  2  0|  0
 14 Steve Klosterman....  3|  4   5  12 -.083|  0|  0   3|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 15 Matt Wade...........  3|  3   0   5  .600| 36|  0   3|  0|  2| 0  3  0|  1
 19 Jamie Diefenbach....  3|  5   2  11  .273|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  2  0|  0
 21 Paul George.........  3| 15   1  20  .700|  1|  0   4|  0|  3| 1  0  0|  0
 1  Tony Ker............  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 7  Garrett Muagututia..  2|  9   3  16  .375|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 16 Kent Kraushaar......  2|  1   0   1 1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 30 Mark Lovein.........  1|  1   0   3  .333|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 33 Eric Chaghouri......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 51 Shaun Nichols.......  2|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 44  15  88  .330| 41|  0  21|  0| 13| 2 10  0|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  6  31  .323   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  11  5  27  .222   UCLA Bruins......... (0) 28 22 26  3-0,1-0 MPSF
   3  17  4  30  .433   Brigham Young Univ.. (3) 30 30 30  2-2,0-1 MPSF
    Brigham Young Univ.    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  SANTOS, Rodnei......  3|  6   2  11  .364|  2|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  4  0|  0
 8  PEREZ, Ivan.........  3| 11   3  16  .500|  0|  0   3|  0|  4| 2  3  0|  0
 11 HOLMES, Russell.....  3| 12   1  14  .786|  0|  0   5|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0
 13 STOWELL, Robby......  3|  7   2  13  .385|  1|  0   3|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0
 14 PEREZ, Yamil........  3|  0   1   1-1.000| 44|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  1  1|  0
 17 STEWART, Andrew.....  1|  0   3   4 -.750|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 1  CALA, Yosleyder.....  3| 15   0  19  .789|  0|  0   5|  0|  3| 0  2  0|  0
 5  COX, Scott..........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 6  SILVA, Joel.........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 7  SORENSEN, Trent.....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 12 POMPEI, Andy........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 16 NEFF, Chip..........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 51  12  78  .500| 49|  0  19|  0| 27| 2 12  1|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  7  28  .250   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhous)
   2  20  2  28  .643   Date: Jan 12, 2007   Attend: 5537   Time: 1h 46m
   3  17  3  22  .636   Referees: Les Calles, Maile Jewkes

PROVO -- Coming off a weekend sweep of NAIA power Cal-Baptist, No. 2 BYU stays at home as the Cougars welcome No. 3 UCLA. The Bruins went 2-1 last weekend at the Elephant Bar Tournament hosted by UCSB. UCLA lost to No. 1 UC Irvine in the finals of the tournament.

SERIES INFORMATION

The BYU-UCLA rivalry has been one of the closest rivalries in the past three years. Since 2004, the Cougars and Bruins have split the two-match series every year. BYU does hold an 8-4 record in the last 12 matches dating back to the 1999 season.

The Bruins dominated the early years of the head-to-head match ups. UCLA won the first seven matches the two schools played and dropped only one game over that stretch. The Cougars will be looking for their first season sweep since 2003.

MATCH COVERAGE

Every home match will have a free live stats feed option. The live stats feed can be accessed by visiting the men's volleyball schedule page at www.byucougars.com. The direct link is http://www.byucougars.com/Schedule.jsp?SP=201&YR=2006. The live stats can be launched by clicking on the "Live Stats" link for the appropriate game. Also available for the second season in a row is a live video feed through CSTV All-Access. Users must subscribe to this service. More information, such as cost and direct links to the CSTV All-Access page can be found by visiting the the schedule page and cliking on the "Live Video" link.

Both matches against UCLA will be televised on BYU-TV with Chris Tunis doing the play-by-play, Steve Vail adding commentary and Toni Stauffer doing sideline reports. Friday's match will also be carried live on KBYU while Saturday's match will be tape-delayed at 10 p.m.

PRESEASON EXHIBITION

BYU finished its exhibition schedule having won four of six matches. The Cougars previously played against four of Canada's best teams in Edmonton, Alberta, going 2-2 including a victory over defending Canadian Collegiate Champion Trinity Western. Impressively, the Cougars won two matches against Canada's best with just one week of practice whereas the Canadian teams had been practicing for two months.

After the Canadian tournament, BYU played two home matches against conference rival Pepperdine. The Cougars won both matches in four games.

LAST WEEK RECAP

FRIDAY--The No. 2 ranked BYU Men's Volleyball team began the 2007 campaign the same way they did the 2006 season by beating Cal Baptist in three games 30-26, 30-18, 30-25 in front of 1,631 fans at the Smith Fieldhouse Friday night. Junior Ivan Perez had a team-best 13 kills on .550 hitting percentage while All-American Russell Holmes had seven kills and on a team-high .636 hitting percentage. Freshman Robby Stowell had a stellar performance in his first match as a Cougar with 11 kills, five digs and three blocks.

SATURDAY--Freshmen Robby Stowell and Andrew Stewart paced a balanced BYU attack as the Cougars cruised to a 3-1 victory over Cal-Baptist 30-24, 30-20, 24-30, 30-21. BYU (2-0) hit over .400 in the first two games before struggling in game three and only hitting .105. The Cougars finished the match hitting at a .338 mark.

STO "WELL DONE"

In the first two matches of his collegiate career, 18-year-old true freshman Robby Stowell led BYU to a weekend sweep of three-time defending NAIA champion Cal-Baptist. In his first match, Stowell recorded 11 kills--good for second on the team in the three-game sweep--against only three attack errors. Stowell hit .400, recorded a service ace, five digs and three block assists. On Saturday evening, Stowell recorded a double-double

with 17 kills and 10 digs. He recorded a .429 hitting percentage on Saturday and picked up two block assists.

Stowell's weekend totals included 28 kills (a team-best four KPG) on a .417 hitting percentage. He started all seven games in the two matches and was second on the team over the weekend with 15 digs.

HOT HITTING

The Cougars got off to a hot start hitting the ball against Cal-Baptist last weekend. Ivan Perez, Russell Holmes and Robby Stowell all hit over .400 in BYU's two matches over the weekend. Perez hit .488 (26-5-43) for the Cougars while Holmes hit .452 (18-4-31) and Stowell hit at a .417 clip (28-8-48).

UP NEXT

The Cougars head out on the road for the first time when they travel to Stanford to take on the Cardinal. BYU will have two straight weeks on the road as the Cougars will face Stanford next week before heading to Hawaii for the Outrigger Tournament in Honolulu in two weeks.

The Cougars have won six in a row against Stanford and hold a 20-8 all-time record against the Cardinal.